Football Photography with Primes

CaptainPenguin

CaptainPenguin

Messages
5,161
Name
Nigel Cliff
Edit My Images
Yes
Been doing Non League football photography for a few years now currently with a 300mm and 70-200 f2.8,chatting to a mate the other day and he had seen an article by someone just using primes instead of the 70-200,100 mm or 135mm
Anybody gone down that route and does the increase in quality outweigh the loss of flexibility
 
You really won't see many snappers who don't use the 70-200 for footy - I've thought about using the 135f2 myself once or twice but have chickened out on the day. The marginal practical increases in quality with the 135mm don't, in my view, compensate for the ability to fill the frame over a wider range of distances in the penalty area/down the flanks. I know one guy from one of the best agencies who uses an ancient 100mm lens regularly but he is very much the exception to the rule and is good enough to disregard the conventional wisdom.
 
I use the canon 70-200 mkII and a 400m 2.8

however I do a lot of low light stuff.. even worse than non league.. schools and colleges and sports arenas 3g with tiny floodlights and the like.. I use the 135mm for those game as its pin sharp at f2

before i got the 70-200 i was using the 135 for the short end because the original 70-200 didnt come anywhere close in quality.. its juts somethign you get used to using... fantastic lens.. hwoever the 70-200 mkII comes close and beats it in any kind of decent light
 
Thanks for the replies guys I just fancy trying something different and to be honest the Sigma doesn't have a very good hit rate under iffy lights so I might bight the bullet and get a 135,if I buy second hand i shouldn't lose to much if it doesn't work out
 
Had to resort to a 105 macro when I smashed my 70-200. Af speed was no problem but it was always way tooo short for rugby.
May have been ok for smaller field sports.
 
I am shooting sports say soccer since 2007, my main lens is Canon 300 mk1, my second lens is 70-200, before i had 70-200 mk1 and now i have mkII since 3 years ago, and i still use 300mm 98%, so for me i depend on prime more, but that is for soccer, if i shoot another sports it may vary, i may use another lenses such as Canon 85mm 1.8 or 100-400 or 135 or even more with 70-200 than any prime or zoom.

I was shooting Dubai Marathon from a not important locations for 4 years [actually it is once per year and only during morning time], and in those 4 times i was using only 70-200.
 
I know someone who uses a 400mm f2.8 and a 200mm f2 for the short stuff.

He's a pro and a good one at that as well
 
whitey said:
I know someone who uses a 400mm f2.8 and a 200mm f2 for the short stuff.

He's a pro and a good one at that as well
Click to expand...

I've seen a few peeps at Hull using 200/2 for their short lenses.
 
I invested in a 200-400 F4 VR a couple of months back for football and its the best thing i've done. Only use the one body for most of my stuff now. I still setup the second body and 70-200 but hardly use it. the last two games i've done around 25 frames on it and most of them were pre match of managers
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top